pH

[mkisielewski]

Hello!!! I am new to the forum. I have had freshwater tanks for about 10 years and I've always wanted to do discus and I finally am!! I have everything ready to go, I still want to get a few more live plants but I'm having trouble getting the pH to the correct range. I don't want to resort to chemicals, I want to drop it naturally. It's currently at 7.2-7.6 and I have 2 pieces of driftwood hoping it would fall naturally, but it just isn't. Any suggestions???

[Northwoods Discus]

There is nothing wrong with your Ph. It just needs to stay stable. If you are going to keep wilds it may be more important but I wouldn't start with wilds.

[moon_knight1971]

why do you want to drop the ph? Discus are good in ph between 6 - 8 as long as it stays consistant. are you trying to breed them?

[mkisielewski]

Not trying to breed just want to have the "perfect" environment for them. ( Is there such a thing?!? ) My water has been stable for about 4 months so I guess I'm doing pretty good. One more question.... I have a 45 tall that I will be putting my discus in and I'm worried about over-crowding. I have 6 bleeding hearts, 8 neons, 6 rummy nose, and 6 cory's .....too much??? (I plan on putting 3 discus)

[Elite Aquaria]

mkisielewski,

Welcome to Simply Discus...I am one of the Moderators here so feel free to contact any of us if you have questions.

As mentioned above your PH is fine. The perfect environment would be a stable PH. The stocking level would depend on your filtration and water changing routine. The bottom line is water quality. Good luck and again welcome to Simply.

[Northwoods Discus]

3 discus is a bad number. You should have them in groups of 6 or more and have about 10 gallons of tank for each. A 45 gallon tank does not work out quite right. It could be OK to keep a PAIR in but not a group. The reason you need a group is to spread out aggression to decrease stress.

[mkisielewski]

I always read that you should start in groups of 3 so good to know!! Thankyou for your help!!